Ondine, Edinburgh – Stunning Scottish Seafood

When I asked a friend for the best seafood in Edinburgh, he replied emphatically, ‘Ondine’.

Their website promised ‘Proper Seafood‘ in giant type.

They weren’t joking!

Situated above a Pizza Express just off Edinburgh’s high street, The Royal Mile. It’s not much to look at from the outside. The hanging lobster is actually quite tacky, reminiscent of cheap seafront shacks.

But once inside and upstairs it’s actually very modern and quite smart.

There’s a separate oyster bar which looks like all sorts of fun.

But we took our place in the main dining room.

The menu consists of around 10 starters and main courses, a variety of oysters from the bar and a number of large seafood platters.

It wasn’t long before we were tucking into excellent bread and choux pastry gougères filled with Gruyere.

We ordered a range of starters including very good mussels. And a delightfully delicate ‘Courgette Flower Tempura’ that was stuffed with goats cheese and served with a rich, salty tapenade.

Mussels Moucladé

Courgette Flower Tempura

Lightly battered ‘Squid Tempura’ was crisp on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside. With not a bit of chewiness. The red chilli dipping sauce was the perfect companion.

Tempura Squid

But the highlight was the ‘Sea Bass Ceviche’.

Fantastic quality raw bass was expertly cubed and doused in fresh lime juice. So clean and fresh with the whipped avocado adding a luxurious creaminess, the pomegranate bursts of fruity sweet and sour flavour.

Sea Bass Ceviche

The starters were all great but it was really all about the main event.

2 comments

I’m feeling antsy having waited over a week from a visit to the post going up (I only wrote my latest blog yesterday and it goes up on Monday whilst I’m @PeopleOfUK on twitter so will have a bigger reach)!!!

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Food Geek Bio

I like to eat. A lot. I also like to take photos of food and write about it too.

You'll find (very) occasional recipes & (even more occasional) foodie news but mainly my restaurant experiences. I've eaten in some of the best in the world as well as 100's in Manchester & the North West.